Are you there?
by smolgaysinner
Summary: Rochu Ivan is sent to a Mental Facility. Along the way he finds a pair of spectacles that grant him to see things that aren't there. He also meets a patient like himself named Yao. As time goes on, he realizes fate put the spectacles in his hands. With Yao by his side, he realizes that trying to escape will be the greatest risk in his life. It's a risk he's willing to take.


The sun seeped through the slightly, cracked car window and onto Ivan's lap; warming him up. From outside the window, strangely colored wild flowers decorated the mountain road. The occasional rocking of the car due to the rocks on the road jolted Ivan awake no matter how much he tried to sleep. The ocean breeze that greeted Ivan with a false sense of security intruded into Ivan's nostrils. This sunny, perfect weather was hiding the horrible reality of the facility that was hidden in the mountains.

Ivan rested his head against the car window, as he once again tried wiggling his hands free from the rope binding them together. They were so tight around his wrists that his knuckles became white. He wondered if he would ever get out of these binds.

It's been three hours since he had been forced to sit in the cigar scented car with an equally smelling driver. Or was it four hours? Five? Who knew? It was too long to even tell. All he knew was that he was miles away from Moscow.

The car suddenly jerked forward causing Ivan's head to collide with the head rest. When he did, he was still trying to unbind the ropes that held them together; when he flew forward, it caused the rope to silt his wrists. Blood was now seeping out of it.

The driver looked over at Ivan with an unfriendly glance. "We're here." He said with a gruff voice. His car had stopped in front of a large, rusted metal gate.

From beyond the gate, across the bride, stood a large facility. A large prison. Well, with the watch-men on the roofs- toppled with barbed wire-, the bridge that led to the gate with even more security, and the watchtowers that prevented escape from this place, you wouldn't believe me if I told you it was a simple hospital.

"Is…Is this the place?" Ivan whispered softly, craning his neck to allow his violet orbs to get a better view.

The driver ignored Ivan completely and honked at the gate as if he was ordering it to open up. It did. The loud moan of rusted metal sliding open thundered throughout the mountains. The loud echo engulfed Ivan which sounded like two chalk bricks being pressed together. Ivan clenched his teeth together and tried huddling into a little ball hoping to block out the sound. He wished he was able to cover his ears. He hates loud noises.

When the gate was finally opened, Ivan could faintly make out two men dressed all in white as they crossed the bridge. Ivan tried to get a better peek at these twos, but from where he was sitting it was hard to do so. The two men- more like robots- marched over to the car. Ivan thought they were funny in a way. One of them was tall and very muscular. His veins seemed to pop out of his arm as he walked forward. The other one was also rather tall but had no meat to speak off. He resembled a twig in Ivan's eyes.

The two odd pair passed through the gate and towards the car. When the twig made it to Ivan's side of the car, he looked up with wide, curious eyes that met the eyes of a rather live-less figure. He opened the car door and the muscular one reached over for Ivan; roughly grabbing his shoulder and dragging him out of the car. Ivan made little signs of protests not sure of what to think of these men. Were they here to hurt him?

Once out of the car, both of the men grabbed Ivan's arms-on opposites sides –and started to escort Ivan to the gate. The car behind them honked, signaling his depart. He tried turning his head to see the car leave but the twig man gave a shift kick to Ivan's back knee.

"Come on, move your fucking legs." 

Ivan frowned at the sudden aggression the men showed. A childish pout came upon his lips. The three walked through the gates that reminded Ivan of the hands of Death. As if he were excepting Ivan's arrival. He gulped. After the gate as a bridge. _The bridge_. The bridge led people to the facility. Under the bridge was the out of place, grey and gloomy sea. _The sea_. When the two men walked towards the bridge, Ivan dug his heels deep into the ground; shaking his head wildly.

"N-No! Are you crazy?!" Ivan's usually calm violet eyes showed fear. There was no way he was crossing the bridge. Not with the ocean's waves crashing down and attacking the cliff side mountains. Ivan shuffled his feet backwards showing his protest against this. His breathing became rapid and fast as images flashed throughout his mind. The one that stuck out was the sound of tires screeching before the smell of smoke thickened the air. A sudden kick to his back knee made him snap back to reality and jump forward however.

"Move it retard!" The muscular one snapped at him as the men half pushed and half dragged Ivan over to the bridge. A helpless Ivan was forced to submit to their will. Half-way across the bridge, the twig stopped abruptly. With his free hand, he pointed down to the ocean that sharp rocks sticking out of it, like giant fangs. The ocean seemed to be attempting the sallow them whole for dinner. Ivan actually considered this for a moment. Death seemed to be better than all of this.

"This is where your body ends up if you piss off Dr. Roma." The twig cautioned Ivan as they passed on by allowing the frightening ocean to stick into Ivan's head.

 _Don't piss off Dr. Roma.._

The outside of the facility looked close to a prison. It's stainless white walls, fixed with barbed wires on the roofs; even more guards there. Two more watch towers stood on the roof with huge flood lights that stretched across all the way pass the gate. The place was locked up tighter than a bank. Ivan was sure that not even the world's greatest thief would be able to escape.

Ivan looked over at the huge sign that stood outside the facility; like the kind of signs you see before going into a theme park, _"Welcome to Sea-World!"_

Ivan was allowed enough time to read it, "Help for the Mentally ill and Insane." Ivan cocked his head slightly to the side as if he was figuring out a puzzle. He remembered that from the court order. From beyond the sounds of 10 year-old Natalia of sobbing, 20 year-old Katyusha balling and un-balling her fists so tightly that bleed, and the jury murmuring amongst themselves about Ivan, he remembered when the bearded man banged on his strange toy and sentence Ivan over here.

17 year-old Ivan remembered that his little sister Natalia cried and cried that day. She also snapped the branches from outside the courtroom whispering all of the things she would do if they take Ivan away. She sobbed into his older sister Katyusha's sweater. It was old and had a bunch of holes that was soon patched up with random colors that didn't even match with the original. It used to be pink Ivan thought.

Katyusha rubbed little Natalia's head and pleaded with her not to cry even though she suffered the same spell. It tore Ivan's heart to see his sisters like this. It was because of the bearded man. He resembled an elephant and talked like one too. His voice boomed throughout the room and made it shake like an earthquake. Every word he spoke made Katyusha stop breathing. Like he stole her breath away. Maybe she had forgotten how to. Every word he spoke added a new layer of tears to Natalia's pale cheeks. Ivan hated it.

Why was he talking so much? Why doesn't he just shut up? Ivan squeezed his eyes tightly and from the darkness beyond his eyeballs, he could still hear that damn banshee. His voice rattled Ivan's entire core. It felt like someone was slowly turning up the volume to an already loud radio show. Ivan just wanted him to stop, it was too much.

Just stop, stop everything.

JUST STOP.

The loud bang of the bearded man's toy stopped it. The two men escorted Ivan away as Natalia screeched and cried like a two-year old she would not stop. Katyusha looked like the dead. She stood there with a blank expression on her face. The same face she had when Ivan climbed out of the car wreck. When the car went up in smokes and her parents were trapped in there. When the car tipped over the bridge and tumbled down into the body of water below. Even though she reassured Natalia and Ivan that they would be okay, she knew the truth. Ivan knew it too.

Katyusha had been jumpy ever since the funeral. She was always in bed, wrapped up in the big family quilt. The only thing they were able to keep from their parents; the rest they had to sell to be able to afford rent. Katyusha didn't cook for them anymore. She would forget and start dinner at 3am believing that it was still day time; this went on for a while before she stopped completely. Natalia had to take over in the end. She had to balance between school and feeding what was remaining of her family. She cooked, she did the laundry, she washed the dishes; and despite Ivan wanting to help, she never allowed him.

While Katyusha acted in, Natalia acted out. Natalia would fight boys on the playground, steal other children's lunches, and curse out the teachers whenever she could. She would always come back home with a busted lip or a black eye. Katyusha didn't even scold her anymore, she didn't talk much anymore. Katyusha was away in her own world that didn't involve them. Away the reality of her broken self, away from the reality of her parents' death. With Katyusha dead inside, and Natalia becoming a problem for Russia, what did that leave Ivan? What did he get out from his now broken family?

Ivan never acted like Katyusha or Natalia; he acted quite fairly in his eyes. He never caused troubles but he never had any friends. Everyone would just look at him as if he was backwards. Ivan was always alone at school, and he never had anyone come over. He figured that it was because of his sisters; everyone must have thought he was just as crazy as they are. As if it was the plague, they stayed far away from Ivan. Ivan didn't really care.

Ivan has always been a good kid, Katyusha used to always tell him so. It doesn't make sense that he would be sent here. There's nothing wrong with him. He wasn't mental or ill, he was perfectly fine! Ivan just couldn't wrap his head around it, what did he do to wind up here? How did he even get here? All of the important information up to this point in Ivan's life was gone, or at least hard to separate. From between real life and the sedatives the doctors gave him, it was hard to tell which memories were real. It was all just a huge and confusing blur for him.

The memories were so far lost that he couldn't understand it. It hurt his head so much, he wanted it to stop. He wanted all time and space to stop, just everything stop.

Just for once stop.

 _Just stop.._

.


End file.
